


The Looking-Glass Poems

by Adeline_Wrights_Fanfiction



Series: The Looking-Glass Poems [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, Poetry, narrative poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 11,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24115237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adeline_Wrights_Fanfiction/pseuds/Adeline_Wrights_Fanfiction
Summary: "Your freedoms are but the fetters of a greater freedom."So spake the Prophet, whose teachings endure.Weiss Schnee was only passingly familiar with the philosophers of arcane lore. When she crosses paths with the sorceress Ruby Rose, Weiss finds herself spirited away on a journey of pain, love, and loss.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: The Looking-Glass Poems [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739989
Comments: 57
Kudos: 24





	1. What Hides Beneath

Beyond the looking-glass, she peered,  
Seeking gentler dreams than here,  
Where all her love could not contain  
The hateful spurn of Shade’s disdain.

Heiress to the grandest fiefdom  
In all the Land of Vale,  
Weiss begrudgingly existed  
Alone, forgotten, shameful.

It was well known in arcane lore  
That eyes were windows to the soul,  
But none were feared like those who bore  
The shadows in their iris whole.

And so it was that Weiss' stare  
Could summon shadows from the air.  
Daughter of scorn, an only child,  
Her parents cast her out, exiled.

Left to wander ‘cross the land,  
Seeking love and freedom’s hand,  
The Shade behind her eyes did smile;  
Another tear, another mile.

Cov’ring locks of silver hue,  
Weiss knew that the more she drew  
Attention to her startling looks,  
The more she’d be at risk of crooks.

For who would dare befriend a wretch?  
‘Twas souls like hers that could be fetched  
For pretty coins upon the market  
Of labor, slavery, and pigs dressed in scarlet.

Dressed in plainest traveler’s clothes,  
Weiss wandered deep amidst the rooks  
Nested in graveyards,  
Burnt bodies, and books.

The Shadow in her eyes laughed free;  
The death of knowledge was its glee.  
But in the ashes, a glimmer of light.  
Weiss couldn’t help feel the pallor of fright.

Yet still, she was drawn to the light of the sun  
Reflected off fragments which once had been one;  
A looking-glass, shattered and bled  
Showed not her reflection, but one Little Red.

At once, Weiss whirled ‘round,  
For the slavers, she feared,  
Dressed always in scarlet,  
They always were near.

“Wait, please don’t go!”

A frantic voice did plead.  
Weiss looked once again;  
That mirror, it seemed  
Was begging her lead.

“What sorcery is this?”

Weiss spoke not with fear,  
For fear of a mirror  
Was nothing to the notions  
Her shadow adhered.

“Are you real?” The Red questioned—

From the one in the mirror,  
That question was brash.  
But her voice, so faint,  
Unspeakably clear:

“Please, I beg. Don’t return me to ash.”

And then came the cackle,  
That crackle of fear:  
“Oh, crush her to pieces!  
And then bring her here!”

‘Twas Shade who had spoken, had chanted the leer.

“I am sorry, Reflection.  
You aren’t safe with me here.  
My Shade must devour  
The light which draws near.”

“Please! I must needs have freedom.”  
“And if that freedom means death?”  
“Even death is a freedom I will gladly accept.”  
“You should value your life, however coldly it's kept.”

“I have been trapped here for lifetimes!  
You cannot know how I’ve felt  
To be without company,  
Or love, being held.”

Weiss then shed a tear.  
She knew all too well  
That a lifetime alone  
Was certainly hell.

“As you wish, my lady.”  
Weiss reached to the cinders  
'Neath the broken old mirror  
That held the poor soul.

Shade gazed hungrily  
At his soon-to-be feast.  
“Prepare yourself, m’lady,  
For the belly of the beast.”

“But first,” from the glass,  
“May I have your two names?  
I am Ruby Rose of the Mirror,  
The Daughter of Flame.”

“I am Weiss of Atlus,  
Of the fiefdom of Ice.  
The wretch in mine eyes,  
But a nameless, dread phantom.”

“Enough! Enough!”  
Her eyes all but screeched.  
“Feed me my meal  
‘Fore I tear eyelids with teeth!”

A tear fell from White's eye,  
And Red felt it as rain.  
“Are you sure? This you want?”  
“I care not for the pain.”

Slowly, then, the White raised the glass  
Of the broken old mirror to the glass of her eye.  
The Daughter of Flame shut tightly her own,  
Preparing herself for what was to come.

The Shade, with glee,  
It greedily obsessed  
O’er that it possessed  
And for what it would

Soon come to own.

Tendrils reached for the power  
Like a delicate flower,  
For it knew there was magic in tow.  
It knew perhaps of the mirror,

But as the Flame did draw nearer,  
She fastened her gaze once again.  
Eyes of sunlight did bore into tendrils and scored  
Ancient runes running deep through White’s soul.

Shade shrieked,  
“You wretch! You infertile pest!  
You have tricked me!  
I’ll drag you to hell!”

Weiss had no clue what was wrong,  
But that magics were strong  
‘Tween the forces which  
Fought for control.

“It was a lifetime!” Red cried,  
“Of misery and lies!  
Not one had cared for me so.  
And now one comes by, tells me not to die?

_“I refute thee, Shade of the Throe.”_

In a night-blinding blast,  
An earth-shattering crash,  
Weiss felt her body

Burn to ash.

Was it she who was dead?  
Yet she felt not the dread  
That surely accompanied so.

It was then that she realized  
The Red had materialized;

It was she who  
Lay trapped  
In the glass.

“What have you done?!”  
The White cried at the sun.

“I have saved you  
From more than you know.

“The Shade is now done,  
Twisted magics foregone,  
But there is still much.  
Let us go.”

“Go where?” Weiss asked.  
Ruby picked up the glass  
And kissed it  
With a bump of her nose.

“I fear I did not tell the truth;  
I knew of the darkness within.  
There was one chance to free your soul  
From madness, despair, and nightmares untold.”

“But who are you?” Weiss asked.

“I am Ruby Rose.  
I am the Fire Within.  
And with all of my heart,  
I thank you, dear friend.”

“Must I be trapped here as you were?  
Must a lifetime be spent  
'Fore I too may repent?”

“You’ve no need to do so.  
I’ve erased you of sin.  
But all magic has a price;  
You now pay yours within.”

“I did not ask for magic.”  
Weiss wondered at the fabrics  
Of woven glass  
Which held her astow.

“No. You asked for death.  
Your eyes told me so.”

“Then are you to leave me?  
Or crush me and go?”

The Daughter of Flame gave a smile.  
“I’ll do nothing so vile.  
The price to be paid was  
Meant to be mine.

“But the Shadow, most foul,  
Did not deserve your fair crown.

"I had meant to seal it, imprisoned,  
In the glass sheet envisioned  
For the likes of such monstrous wiles.

"Yet so long ago, building  
Chain and the lock,  
I'd forgotten to which side I’d belonged.”

“I'd completed the prison,  
Yet with no foul decision  
Had found myself  
Trapped all alone.”

With a wave of her hand,  
Broken pieces did mend.  
“Alas, were you now free to go…”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” with a smile, “We must needs make travel,  
For you did not deserve what's been sown.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote The Looking-Glass Poems in August of 2018 during a psychiatric hospitalization. The whole process was an incredible personal journey. Originally published on FFnet and later taken down for foolish reasons, I have decided to upload the second drafts to Ao3. I am currently in the process of making very minor edits while I agonize over how to thoroughly revise the story and turn it into something amazing. The story told here through narrative verse is the most personally meaningful work I have written in my 30 years of living. With much of the first draft's awkwardness out of the way, I hope you will enjoy the journey.  
> Cheers loves.  
> ~ Adeline


	2. Fevered Dreams

_Deleterious;  
So mysterious;  
Not delirious;  
They all can hear us.  
Help me, dear.  
Keep them out.  
I can only do without  
All these voices that do shout;  
Little whispers in a drought  
Telling me that I should die.  
Can you look me in the eye?  
Cast aside the horde of Grimm  
That torture me with a hymn.  
Help me, dear.  
Keep them out.  
I can only do without  
These shadows haunting my reflection,  
Lying, waiting undetected.  
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,  
Who’s most hideous of all?  
Could it be?  
Is it me?  
Kill me, kill me,  
Make me free!  
Only then can I be me._

* * *

“Weiss?” A familiar voice  
In the gloom of the night,  
Disturbing Weiss' hell,  
Cast now far from her sight.

A hand came to rest upon her,  
So gentle, a songbird,  
Its lilting refrain  
Drawing ‘wake with its verse.

The heiress opened her eyes,  
Remembering, surprised,  
That she lived now a world  
Cast in white.

Her gown was of silk,  
The finest of threads  
Glowing pale in the  
Moonlight overhead.

And the hand that had brought  
The tear ‘way from her eye  
Belonged to Ruby, the sorceress  
Once trapped here instead.

“You were having a nightmare,”  
Red mused, voice bare.  
A tune, lyric melody,  
An enchanting felony;

‘Twas a crime for her voice to so soothe.

White turned to her side,  
Saw her savior alight  
Through the window  
Where her body lay.

She would have been startled  
To see Ruby in the prison  
While she was so clearly  
Asleep in the hay.

“Where are we?” Weiss asked.  
“How are you there and inside  
Of this looking-glass prison  
You’ve made?”

“To-night we rest in the stable  
Of a town from a faraway fable.  
I am asleep to the world,  
Though in slumber I go where I may.”

Weiss wondered aloud  
At the beauty of clouds  
And the woman’s  
Enchanting display.

It was then Ruby’s smiled dimmed.

“Though I have saved your soul  
From the Shade of the Throe,  
It would seem that  
The nightmares remain.”

“How long were you trapped here?”

“I cannot know.  
‘Twas many lifetimes ago  
When I built myself  
Into this cage.”

“You are but a child!  
How can you harness  
Such power  
With such youth?

Such bewitching, beguiling beauty?”

The Red laughed and she shook.  
“Then I suppose we’re the same.  
Did you not know? The Shade of the Throe  
Often devoured the souls that it claimed.”

A gentle hand entangled with Red’s.  
White, resolved in her fastness,  
She fearlessly leaned,

Kissed the Red on her cheek.

“Whatever for?” with red on her face,  
Blooming like a rose in a garden untamed.

“Because your eyes are so tender  
And they dare meet my gaze.”

“How many years did you suffer  
That Shade’s evil haze?”

Weiss leaned towards her flower,  
Near ready to devour her lips,  
Should she not back away.

But away she did move,  
And only too soon;  
So close they had come to cross ways.

“While I appreciate as much,  
Perhaps this can wait another day.”

“But why not today?”

“You know me not well.  
Perhaps time will tell  
If you find I deserve  
What you crave.”

Though Weiss gave a pout  
As she splayed luringly ‘bout  
The soft white of the mirror,

Ruby denied her display.

“Sleep, Weiss. Though your body  
Be preserved by magics,  
Your mind yearns in  
The twilight of morning.”

And to sleep, the White then returned.

* * *

When Weiss’ eyes next unsealed,  
Her glass window revealed  
That they traveled a gait  
Much faster than before.

“Where are we?” Weiss pondered.

“By horseback, the countryside dales.  
Good morning, Fair White!  
Did you enjoy last night when we played?”

Weiss flushed at the memory  
Where half-asleep, she’d indecently  
Advanced on the mage  
Who’d had the kindness to wake her

From the nightmare as it once again played.

The Red laughed, her voice light.  
“You did give me a fright!  
From your nightmare  
To desire so plain.”

She then lifted the mirror  
From the sash at her hip  
And flashed Weiss  
A brilliant smile.

“And where are we going?”

Weiss was still in denial  
That her freedom from pain  
Had imprisoned her again,

Though this time in a more pleasant way.

“We make way for Patch,  
The smile island of cinders  
Where my sister and father  
Remain.”

As Red trailed her last word,  
White’s soul must have curled,  
For Red had spent lifetimes  
Away.

“When you say, ‘remain…’”

“I mean what I say.  
They will be there,  
‘Er they stand  
Or they lay.”

The green of the grass,  
Of the meadows and pastures,  
The sounds of the cattle that grazed;

They all felt so new

To Weiss, who'd only known  
The silence  
Of her death’s parade.

She wondered aloud  
At the glittering clouds,  
Of crystal pools as they  
Passed by a lake.

The countryside was magic  
Like none she had known before.  
Nature’s beauty was incomparable  
To mirrors, fell shadows, and the sagest of lore.

“Shall we stop here awhile?”  
Red’s cloak served to shadow  
The worst of the sun’s midday glare.

“Before we pass fresh water towards Patch,  
Let us allow our steed a well-earned break.  
He must needs slake his thirst,  
As must you stretch your bones.”

“But I feel not the slightest bit frayed.”

“You are immortal ‘cross the looking-glass,  
But still you must partake  
The habits of your bodied self,  
That one day you will not mistake.”

“Mistake what?” Weiss asked,  
Eyes transfixed  
On glittering pools of molten silver  
Rather than the shining lake of blue.

“You must not mistake, when once you return,  
That death might have forgotten you.”

For the first time, White saw more than Red’s eyes;  
Saw hair red like fate, saw her garbed in finery,  
Red cloak 'cross her shoulders; Rose pendant  
At her collar, cast alight with a smolder.

“Ruby?” Weiss asked. “Who are you, really?”

A wistful sigh belied a soul  
Much older than the girl Ruby portrayed.  
“Would that I could tell you all;  
The wars, the loss, the day of the fall.”

“The fall of what?” Weiss asked,  
Though somehow she knew.

“The fall of Beacon, the Tower,  
The mages’ refuge.”

“But that… That’s where I found you.  
In the rubble and wreckage  
Of its ancient estate.”

“What fire and flames hath buried,  
Thus scarred; destruction preserved,  
All perfectly charred.”

Weiss lowered her head solemnly.

“The burning of Beacon was  
One hundred years past. Ruby,  
How old were you when it happened?  
How was it you survived?”

“One hundred years?” The Red sighed.  
"My sister will be furious.”

“Will be?” White balked.  
"What human could possibly  
Live for that long?”

Ruby laughed and ran a finger along  
The rose that was her crest.  
“No human indeed, but  
An ancient, undying ember.”

“You can’t mean…”  
Weiss’ words caught in her throat.

“The Eternal Pyre. I am daughter to the flame spirits.”

“But wasn’t it the flames of the Pyre  
That sundered the Tower?”

“You ask who I am?  
I shall tell you again.  
I am Little Red of the Mirror.  
I am the Daughter of Flame.”

“You ask how I survived? Let me say it anew.  
My soul burns with a passion.  
I am the Undying Flame.  
I am the Magus’ Ire.

"And though you know it not yet,  
I am both Coward and Liar.”

Weiss’ face flushed at her passion,  
At the poetry of her names.  
But not once did she feel fear  
For the woman who held her

Like the precious, fragile thing she was.

“Do you blame yourself? How exactly—”  
“That is enough. I’ve run my mouth too much  
For pretty dames the likes of yourself.  
We must return to the road.”

Ruby returned the mirror to the sash at her side,  
Climbed atop her steed, spurred it astride.  
They rode on in dead silence save for the crackling  
Of White’s thoughts, curiosity flared to light,

Illuminating the looking-glass well into the night.


	3. The Meanings of Red

Their journey to Patch,  
Uneventful and long,  
Led them to the coastline  
Where waters ran strong.

Ruby grimaced. “The sea…”  
“It’s glittering, blue!”  
Weiss was enamored  
Of her window-side view.

“I hate open water.”  
“You can’t magic across?”  
“I can’t even swim,  
Let alone fly aloft.”

Still, undeterred,  
The Red soldiered on.  
“Not far is a port town.  
We’ll charter a launch.”

“Before we find people,”  
White worried aloud,  
“Perhaps you could hide  
The deep red of your shroud?”

But Ruby was indignant.  
“This red is my birthright!  
Rose pendant, my crest!

“You ask me to tear  
My very soul  
From my breast.”

White’s sorrow  
Was felt from the hem  
Of Red’s sash.

“You’ve been gone a long time.  
Red is the color  
Of slavers despised.”

Ruby’s gaze burned  
With the sake of her name.

“It cannot be true!  
This color is sacred.  
The color of passion,  
Of love, and of life.”

“You will see soon enough.  
Though I’ve never been here,  
I’ve been far enough  
To know boldness in fear.”

Ruby covered herself  
With the cloak she clung to.  
There would either be a fight  
Or they’d be too cowed to rebuke.

After some miles,  
A town neared the two.  
They had traveled in silence;  
Weiss admired the view.

“Be careful,” Weiss pled.  
“And you as well.”  
For both of them knew  
A talking mirror would sell.

* * *

Footsteps echoed  
Across barren streets,  
The only sounds ‘ere  
Being the waves  
From the beach.

“Is this town deserted?”  
Ruby scanned  
For a soul.

Not one could be found;  
Not even patrol.

“A town by the water;  
A town of commerce  
For sure.  
How can there be  
Nothing? And no one?”

Then Weiss felt the cold.

The houses weren’t  
Shuttered;  
No doors had been  
Locked.

The town was  
So empty.

There was no freedom  
In shock.

“At least,”  
Weiss remarked,  
“We need not fear  
The fear of the people.”

“I am not unkind, Weiss.  
I am not a slaver  
To fear, nor a  
Tyrant. Adhere  
Not to my sword

“But the strength of my word.”

Mist rolled in  
From the sea  
Frothed with foam.

“This is an  
In-between place.  
That is why  
No-one is home.”

“What do you mean?”  
White wanted to know.  
The Red knelt so gravely  
On the pavement, the stone.

“A prayer for those who  
Have passed before.  
May we too pass  
With swiftness and grace.”

Then she stood and made way,  
Though Weiss knew not where.

The Red walked with purpose,  
Understanding,  
As if driven forward  
By something ancient.

“Do you remember what I said  
Of the stables last night?”

“I thought I was dreaming.  
You said we were in  
A faraway land.”

“And this horse will take us  
To wherever we land.”

“But we left the horse  
At the edge of town.”

“Did we?” Red questioned.  
White’s face turned to frown.

Then her ears were filled  
With the steady clop-clop  
Of the steed they had ridden  
Since the morning she woke.

Ruby patted its side,  
Took hold of its bridle,  
And sighed like a child  
Who'd for too long been idle.

“Thank you, old friend.  
It is good to see you again.  
And though this time  
I’ve company,

You too are an end.”

“An end to what?”  
Then the sound of waves;  
They had reached the jetty.

There was a dock  
And the launch  
That the Ruby had promised  
At dawn. Or was it noon?

Weiss’ memory felt wrong.  
It all happened too soon.

“Dear Weiss,  
I admit:

“For a long time  
I’ve strained.  
For a long time  
I’ve fretted.

“I have lost my Way.

“After too long imprisoned,  
After too long abstained,  
I am about to shed lifetimes  
Of loneliness and pain.”

“Ruby?”  
Weiss could see  
In the girl’s eyes a mist,  
A terrified, longing; a prize.

Where they went next,  
Weiss feared it be won.

They set off in the dark,  
Though moments ago it was day.  
They set off alone,  
Though together were they.

Far off in the distance,  
A beacon of light.  
Ruby steered the launch  
Towards it,

Always kept it in sight.

That light. That light.  
That light was her home.  
That light, Weiss realized,  
Was the Pyre in gloam.


	4. The Spaces Between

_What yonder beach awaits me now?_  
_Will home remain or Dust prevail?_  
_The Pyre burns. Of this I’m sure._  
_Does my family await?_

_Or cursed fiends and the scourge?_

My senses delude me.  
I know not where I am.  
Is dear Ruby still with me?  
In the silence between,

I hear breath without life.

_For too long I’ve pondered,_  
_I’ve planned and I’ve schemed._  
_My prison’s unbreakable_  
_By one such as me._

_I fear that dear Weiss will be stuck in-between._

May I call you  
My savior?  
My Fire and Flames?  
Have I grown too attached?

I know you only by names.

_I’ve accumulated too much,_  
_Must needs empty the cup;_  
_Must return to the center;_  
_Must be one with myself._

_My apologies, Weiss._

Ruby? Where are you?  
I’m alone and afraid.  
I've too lived a lifetime  
With no love conveyed.

Is that why I seek it in you?

_My charge was so willing,_  
_Knowing none of my shame._  
_It will be burned in the Pyre._  
_I needn’t burden the dame._

_My guilt will pass with me, not through me again._

I had nearly forgotten  
My prison of glass.  
This white is so spacious,  
This window so bright.

Is it your light I see burning in the darkness?

_What does Weiss see in me?_  
_She saw my red as with fear,_  
_Yet in my eyes she sees wonder._  
_What wonders are here?_

_My heart is raw from a lifetime of solitude._

Is it love at first glance?  
Am I too foolish, perchance?  
Yet my heart had so fluttered  
When we nearly danced.

My lips had sought hers, but she pulled away.

_Her lips had sought mine, but I pulled away._

_Was it fear that had stopped me?_  
_I saw her soul whole._  
_I know of her beauty;_  
_I know not my control._

Through the mist, a new figure.  
Her light has shined through!  
“Ruby! Dear Ruby!  
Oh, how I’ve missed you!”

Weiss’ voice called out in the gloom;

_Ruby had heard her only too soon._

_“Weiss! Not yet!_  
_I’m not ready for you._  
_Please, a while longer._  
_I promise to return.”_

“But where are you going?”

_“Nowhere without you.”_


	5. The Light of the Night

“Ruby?” Weiss questioned  
Once the girl was asleep.  
At once by her side  
in the mirror, “By your leave.”

“May I hold you tonight?”  
Ruby grimaced, unsure.  
“May I just hold you?  
I’m lonely, you know.”

“So was I whilst imprisoned.  
I was all alone.”

“You have me now,”  
Weiss smiled, implored.

“I’m made of fire, remember?  
I might burn you, you know.”

“I fear not the warmth  
Of an embrace, to be held.  
You say many things,  
But never once have you yelled.”

“But I do fear the touch  
Of she who dispelled  
A much-deserved agony.”

“Yet still, you pleaded.”

“Only to lure  
The Shade of the Throe;  
‘Twas a malicious beast.”

“Then all the more reason not to fear me.”

Ruby sighed. Her voice cracked.  
“It’s not you that I fear,  
But still fear holds me back.”

“Do you fear being burnt?  
My dear Fire and Flames,  
Not a lover to be spurned?”

“How do you mean?”  
Ruby was cautious.

“I mean that I’m smitten,  
You dolt. How about that?  
This is a confession of love;  
Was it not clear  
From the moment we met?”

Ruby near left the glass.  
“I don’t deserve—”

“What about what I deserve?  
I’ve lived a life – a human life –  
Of which I only have one!  
By my lonesome,  
In shame, and always on the run.”

Without awaiting reply,  
Weiss dared lock her lips  
With Ruby, her rose,  
As if having a fit.

“Leave me now if you refuse.  
Return to your body,  
That I may pine alone.”

In stunned silence, Ruby shed  
A single tear through her stare.  
She’d forgotten to breathe,  
Though she needed not air.

She needed to be held.  
Like a child, she wailed.  
The profundity of her  
Desires unveiled.

Weiss reached out a hand.  
“Ruby, please. Won’t you let me—?”

“No! I refuse! It’s not fair that I’m free.”

“It’s not fair that I’m trapped.  
You’re not fair to me.”

“I’m not fair to myself,  
But that’s how it must be.”

And with that, the Ruby fled.  
Weiss watched as she flew  
To the stars,  
To some faraway land;  
To somewhere Weiss could not follow.

She wept plainly instead.


	6. Secrets Unveiled

The mist, at last broken;  
In sight was the sea.  
‘Twas infinite around them,  
Save Patch before thee.

The waves guided them gently.  
Ruby needed not steer.  
Weiss breathed deeply and calmly,  
With her rose again near.

A deep breath and a sigh,  
Watching clouds pass them by,

“Before we arrive,  
I want you to know  
Why Coward and Liar  
Are names that I hold.”

It made Weiss uneasy  
To hear the pain in  
Her voice. The shame;  
The deflation,

As if she hadn’t a choice.

“I need you to judge me.  
For all of my years,  
I’ve sat amongst corpses  
Who’d once been my peers.”

The look of shock as  
Eyes crossed with eyes  
Spurred Ruby on,  
Knowing she’d be despised.

“I had abandoned my family  
In this life and more,  
Forsaking my upbringing  
In favor of lore.

“Arcane lore I devoured,  
Amassed intellect and power  
Beyond the Path of the Flame;  
Pursuing knowledge, I strayed.

“I ignored my own nature,  
Pried past Things As They Were.  
I defiled the stature of  
The looking-glass blurred.

“I trained at Beacon  
For ninety-nine years.  
When due to give up my station,  
My stubbornness adhered  
To routine, to everyday things;

“I neglected the life  
That demanded its rearing.”

“I don’t understand,”  
Said Weiss through the glass.  
“Were you pregnant or dying?  
What then came to pass?”

“It was both, in a sense.  
As a flame sprite by birth,  
I must needs on occasion  
Return to the earth.”

Weiss pondered.  
“Your words are still vague.”

“When we get to Patch,  
Their vagaries will fade.

“But I neglected myself.  
That point needs be stressed.  
I held no accountability  
‘Til what had come next.

“Remember I said  
My imprisonment  
Was a farce?  
‘Tis here I am Liar;  
‘Tis next that came scars.

“The prison was built  
As my form grew unstable.  
Through magic, I’d sought  
To abandon Life’s fable.

“I’d intended all along  
To live in the glass,  
To study free from the form  
That demanded I pass.

“And ‘Tis here I am Coward,  
For Nature’s rebuke  
To the life unconsidered  
Became its repute.

“No magic is free.  
The price is never the same;  
As I stepped through the glass,  
I became Fire and Flames.

“Cleaving my body  
From its worldly shell  
Unleashed twenty-two lifetimes  
Of fires from hell.”

“Then the flames of the Pyre…”  
White’s breathing was fast.  
She had pieced it together.  
She understood the Red’s past.

“You see it, then?  
I deserve not your affection.  
Countless lives were snuffed out.  
I brought an end to direction.

“I set back the pursuit  
Of knowledge by centuries,  
Then I layed in the ruins  
All alone and pedantic.

“May I have your judgment now?  
May I know where we stand?  
I will grant your desire;  
I’ll obey your command.

“I will drown in the sea  
If that be your demand.”

White’s brow became furrowed.  
She grumbled and hummed.  
“Is there anything else?”  
“The loneliness of the sun.”

“Please answer one question  
‘Fore I cast judgment on thee:  
When you cast out the Shade,  
Did you know you’d be free?”

“I did not.”  
Red was solemn.  
“I told you no magic is free,  
The price never the same.”

“Then I forgive  
Your transgressions.”

Ruby balked. “Just like that?”

“All this time,  
You have suffered.  
Need I see  
More than that?

“And you seem now  
Accepting of your nature.  
Why else would we  
Return to your home?”

Ruby fell to her knees,  
Her weight shaking their craft.

It shook and it rocked,  
Though Weiss’ feet  
Remained flat.

“Just like that,”  
She muttered.  
Disbelief in  
Her shock.

“Can it be all so easy?  
I never thought  
I’d be free.

“I thought forever  
I’d languish  
In the flames that were me.”

“Ruby, please. For me:  
Do just one thing.”

“I’ll do  
Anything.”

“Be kind to yourself,  
As you’ve been kind to me.  
You’ve treated me well.  
Can’t you leave the past be?

“I don’t understand  
All of the things  
That you’ve said.

“The life of a flame sprite  
Seems something to dread.”

Ruby laughed the tears past her lips.  
“It’s actually quite nice  
If I keep out of my head.”

And before they had known it,  
Their launch ran aground.  
They’d made their way steady.

Red was home, safe and sound.


	7. The Isle of Patch

“We’ve made it.  
I’m home  
After countless  
Years alone.”

“How long  
Were we lost  
In that maze  
Of hoarfrost?”

“I do not know.  
I do not care.

“Though alone  
For some time,  
We are bound  
Once again.”

Red held the glass  
Up to her face  
So that White,  
When she looked,

Saw not tears of disgrace  
But a face, hard and soft;  
Tears of remembrance,  
Tears seeking redemption.

Silver eyes shone  
As if reflecting the moon  
Even though it was daylight;  
They’d found shore at high noon.

“Weiss, thank you  
For traveling with me.”

“Did I have any choice?  
And will this set me free?”

“You always have a choice  
Even trapped in the glass.  
At any point, had you asked,  
I’d have turned you to ash.”

Weiss thought for a moment.  
“You would have killed me?  
If I had begged for death?  
Is that what you mean?”

“Your eyes sought demise  
For longer than time.  
It was in saving your spirit  
You gave value to mine.”

Weiss shivered—not from  
Chill or from warmth.  
“What value is life with  
No shelter from storms?”

“Is that how you feel?  
That in suffering  
And pain, there’s no  
Worth in Life’s living?

“How had you survived ‘til this day?”

That shameful regret  
Of looking away:  
“I was afraid of the darkness,  
Though with shadows I’d lain.”

Red nodded, understood.  
“Though you are human, White,  
Though you have but one life,  
Let me show you what lies

“Between love and strife.”

Again, eyes met eyes,  
Faces stricken with tears,  
But now light filled silver  
And tentative blue.

“Let me show you that life  
Is more just than cruel;  
It’s more than just suffering,  
Needn’t shimmer like jewels.”

Red angled the mirror  
To face the shores of her homeland:  
The Eternal Pyre; the Isle of Patch.  
The island teemed with life, with sand,

And with love.

“I don’t understand,”  
Said Weiss in a breath.  
“There is nothing but sand.  
How is life still here yet?”

So there was, as Weiss  
Took it in; the plant life,  
The people, the beasts  
Not in pens. It was marvelous…

Ruby took a step in.

At once the lives turned,  
Took notice of them.

They rejoiced;  
Life was new.  
They were all  
Freshly born.

“It is your turn now, too.”

A woman approached  
From the center of the crowd,  
Hair impossibly golden,  
Like the flames of the sun.

Eyes of lilac brought color  
To the desert of life,  
An oasis in the oasis  
That was Patch tonight.

But was it not day?  
Was it not just high noon?  
Weiss wondered if time  
Passed her by all too soon.

Ruby cheered and she whooped;  
“Dear Sister! I am home!”

“What has taken so long?”  
Her voice was as tendrils  
Of flame cooking bone.

She radiated power  
Like none White had seen.  
If Red slew her Shadow,  
What could this girl achieve?

“Were you counting the days?”  
Ruby shuffled her feet.

“I was counting the cycles  
Of death on repeat.  
We know of what happened;  
What kept you away.”

“Then you know I’m not worthy  
To return to the Way.”

The Golden One shook  
Her mane of bright hair.  
“That is not how it works.  
The Way is like air.

“You may breathe it  
With ease; you may  
Breathe it in heaves,  
But breathe it you must.

“The Way is constant and free.”

Ruby cried once again.  
She was wordless in prayer.

“Come,” said the Gold.  
“You're the youngest yet still.  
Dear Father would not sire  
Before you were killed.”

At this, White’s alarm was profound.  
“Wait, what are you talking ab—”  
From her mouth came no sound.

More magics in tow?  
Who had silenced her throat?  
Why had Ruby returned  
To this freakish death cult?

Weiss peered ‘cross the sand.  
It glittered command;  
Decreed all life return  
To the flame, that it burn.

Then she looked to the life.  
This isle, paradise.  
It was not hers  
To cast judgment.

They walked now amongst  
The various forms;  
The humans and animals,  
All smoldering, warm.

They all glittered like stars  
That had yet to be born.  
White’s fear was overcome  
By her need to learn more.

“Dear sister,” They said.  
“Hello and goodbye.  
Let us scatter your ashes  
Across the blue sky.  
May your bones be reminded  
What it means to die.”


	8. The Eternal Pyre

_The night was a blur._  
_Weiss saw the sun stir,_  
_Then settle again_  
_As if waiting its turn._

* * *

“Dear Sister,” said Gold, “You have lost your Way.”

“Yet I believe,” replied Red,  
“That the Way brought me home.”

Gold threw back her head in laughter,  
Threw her arm ‘round her sister  
So they’d laugh together.

“I suppose that it has,”  
Gold said with a smile.  
“So how was it, then?  
Traveling mile after mile?”

“I’ve traveled far, but first  
Allow me to introduce Weiss,  
The woman who cut down my noose.”

Weiss was timid as she waved from her perch  
‘Cross the looking-glass hung from Red’s flowing skirts.

“Hello,” she offered,  
Looking fully Confused.  
“‘Tis a pleasure to meet you.  
Are you half-human too?”

“I am not human at all;  
I am a spirit of flame.  
Though my form be a woman,  
We aren’t the same.”

Weiss stopped not to wonder  
The meaning of her words;  
Gold’s hair became fire  
And she turned from the girls.

“Ruby, come with me.  
We must speak next  
With Father.”

The Red nodded and placed  
White’s mirror in view  
Of the Eternal Pyre.

“I am sorry, Weiss.  
You cannot come in.  
The Flame consumes all;  
even those born within.”

The two then vanished  
Beyond the great pillar of flame.  
It flared with new life,  
Then was quiet again.

Within Weiss flared a loneliness,  
For since the moment they’d met,  
Ruby had been by her side.

Tears threatened again.

But before they could fall,  
The Pyre came alive,  
And in all of its majesty  
Was a face ‘cross the sky.

“Weiss Schnee, Girl in Tatters,  
I thank thee for freeing  
My youngest of daughters,  
Kept alive yet not living

“By the mirror which now  
Holds you captive,  
And as ward,  
Thus protected.”

Speechless at first,  
Then, in finding her words,  
Weiss had some questions:

“Who do I address?  
Where is Dear Red?  
And who are the rest?”

“I am the Father. The First.  
I am the Unfinished Song.

“Red burnt to cinders.  
Her death was prolonged.  
The rest are but sparks,  
Dim lights in the fog.”

“She cannot be dead!  
Did she throw away  
Her life? She had  
Made me a promise.

“I pray you are lying.”

“Your prayers, unheeded,  
Are answered the same,  
For a flame sprite’s  
Rebirth is a matter of days.”

“Rebirth?” Weiss breathed.

“You were reborn as well  
In the moment when Red  
Released you from hell.

“Rest. Be not weary.  
My daughter will return  
With laughter in her heart

“And a readiness to yearn.”

At the Song’s words,  
White’s face crept  
With heat.

Did he mean  
Of her affections  
That Red would  
Finally meet?

* * *

Weiss killed the  
Hours of the day  
Waiting anxiously  
For Ruby to return.

And as day turned to night,  
Weiss did worry with fright.  
How many days must she  
Wait all alone?

What if Ruby was lost  
Forever? and Weiss  
Forever embalmed?

Weiss sought time to kill,  
Not aware of the life, of the thrill,  
The thrushes and birds.

Weiss felt herself in  
Anxiousness blighted.

The Pyre, ever patient,  
Having existed forever,  
Watched in silent amusement  
O’er White’s fretful disaster.

Then, on the dawn of  
The tenth day,  
Long after Weiss  
Cried her tears away,

Ruby emerged radiant  
And wreathed in flame.

She took in the world  
As if for the first time.  
She smiled like the sun.

Then she remembered the pain;  
Twenty-two lifetimes again.  
She wept like the moon.

Then she looked to the mirror,  
Saw Weiss looking drearier,  
And she smiled  
As bright  
As the stars.

And she spoke:  
“My dear Weiss, I have watched  
As I burnt a lifetime of guilt.  
Seek me not with time to kill, but  
Hours to live.”

* * *

When the night had next fallen,  
Ruby set her charge  
In view of the starlight,  
In view of the flowers.

Then, in plain clothes,  
She lay on her side  
Facing the looking-glass,  
Seeing not her own self,  
But Weiss breathing fast.

“I do not mind  
Your eyes on me,  
But forget not  
The beauty

“Of the air and the trees.”

“What has lifted your spirits?  
What has made you so free?  
Even released from the mirror,  
You struggled to be.”

“It is simple, Dear Weiss.  
I have shed the weight from my soul;  
I have remembered I’m me.  
I am once again whole.”

And with that, Ruby slept.  
Weiss watched her, the trees,  
The wind in the flowers,  
And then, suddenly—

A hand to her chin  
And a kiss to her cheek.  
Weiss blinked in surprise:  
Ruby, beside in the glass.

“How do you come  
To slumber so soon?”

Ruby blushed and she smiled;  
“By counting the women  
Who lead me to swoon.”

It took Weiss a moment  
To catch Ruby’s meaning.

“And now I wish to count  
The presses of my lips against yours.”

A fire lit her eyes.  
They were free of all fear.  
Weiss stared deeply in wonder;  
She almost shed tears.

“Why the change of heart?”

“Because love need not be earned.  
Am I being too forward?  
You’ve been quite forward, yourself,  
But I dare not impose  
Where I may not be welcome.”

Weiss shed her tears now  
With a longing smile;  
She kissed Ruby in full  
As she cast off denial.

And Ruby as well;  
She felt freedom at last,  
Felt the soul in her lips,  
Free of burdens long passed.

In their first night together,  
Hands carded through hair;  
Ruby’s short, reddish locks  
And Weiss’ long, silver trail.

Their bodies molded to  
Each other as if melded to one;  
They lived in their lips as  
Weiss breathed in the sun.

The Red grew excited,  
Gave ethereal heat.  
White drank it all in;  
‘Twas her partner’s need.

And they repeated  
Themselves;

The night was still young,  
They knew this fact well,  
Though somehow it felt that  
Time was all wrong.

Hands wandered closer to the  
Silk of White’s hips, then were guided away;  
“I’m not ready for that.  
Can we be comfortable with this?”

And for all the night hours  
They lived in their hands and  
Their lips; tenderness, compassion,  
And touches like this.

Then one final kiss. “Farewell,”  
As Red woke. Her first sight,  
As was planned, of the looking-glass,  
The flowers, and that  
Precious light of dawn.

For her twenty-third lifetime,  
Ruby and Weiss would be one.


	9. Freedom in Flames

“Ruby?” Weiss asked  
One morning as she woke.  
“Does it hurt when you burn?  
Must you breathe only smoke?”

Ruby’s smile was wan,  
For in waking,  
They cannot touch.  
“In the fire, I yearn.  
I do not think pain as such.

“In flames, there is smoke  
When life is but choked  
And consumed, with only  
Ashes exhumed.

“The Fire is pure  
So long as it gives  
And endures,

“For love seeks naught but  
Its own fulfillment.”

“But flame devours everything else,”  
Weiss pondered. And Ruby answered:

“A lesson I learned on  
The day Beacon burned.  
But that was a lifetime ago.

“I’ve had time to distill  
The remorse and the guilt.  
The first, I have kept;  
The other is silt.

“This life is spent  
In wandering  
And loving you.”

Weiss’ eyes were closed in meditation,  
Her breathing stilled in contemplation.  
“You are beautiful,” she breathed,  
Peering not at the skin, but  
The soul set beneath.

“I am that I am.  
We are that we are.  
In you too,  
I find beauty;  
Including your scars.

Having spoken thus,  
Ruby picked up the glass,  
And though Weiss could not feel it,  
Pressed her lips to hers flat.


	10. Shame Unlearned

“Have you no shame?!” Weiss cried  
Seeing Ruby naked her first time.  
They had stopped so she could bathe  
In a river stream, in plain light of day.

Ruby had set the looking-glass facing her,  
Thinking Weiss would be comforted  
In knowing she’s near.

“Shame? I have none.  
I unlearned it in the Pyre.  
My shame was set free  
As I burned in the Fire.

But in _your eyes_ I see  
A shame greater, indeed.  
I see your body did rise  
To hopes and desires.”

Weiss flushed, turned away.  
How dared she today?  
But deeply, she knew,  
Desired silver and blue;  
Mixed together, their souls.

Very deeply, she knew,  
She wanted Ruby whole.

“Perhaps, tonight,  
If you’re willing,  
We could play.”

“Shameless!” Weiss cried.  
Ruby laughed it away.


	11. Survivor's Guilt

One restless night  
As Weiss tossed and turned,  
Though sleepless and sheetless,  
Her soul ever yearned;

Not for love or affection,  
Of these she was rich,  
But for freedom,  
Redemption  
From the life  
That persists.

Before she could shout,  
Her frustration near-peaked,  
Her love was beside her,  
Both soothing and sweet.

“Pray now, Weiss,  
Do tell of your ails.  
It isn’t much like you  
To quiver and quail.”

“Ruby! Sweet Ruby!  
How gladly you sleep.  
Tell me:  
Though you’re here,  
Do you ever dream?”

And she answered:  
“Is life not a dream?  
A fleeting moment we experience,  
Which eventually ends?

“And perhaps my rebirth in Fire  
Is but a greater dream.

“I sense in you  
A nightmare unbidden.  
Pray now, Love,  
Do tell of your ails.”

Weiss broke ‘neath the strain  
Of an old lifetime of pain.  
Her sobs no longer hidden,  
She turned face to face.

“I feel guilty.  
I’ve survived  
What so many  
Have not.”

“The Shade of the Throe?  
What hardships begot  
Must you cling to so?  
Guilt is but learned.  
You must needs  
Learn to let go.”

“Perhaps one day  
I’ll learn freedom  
From prison.  
Perhaps one day  
I will know  
Self-freedom,  
Forgiveness.  
Perhaps one day  
I will grow  
Beyond this  
Schism”

“Do you not grow every day?”  
Ruby smiled. A kiss to Weiss’ cheek  
Reminded her of wiles.  
“And though you don’t age,  
Surely you wisen.”

“From my looking-glass cage,  
I see not the horizon.”

“Then see what is in front of you.  
You need not look far  
To know you are loved  
Or that this world is a star;

“That the light of our sun  
Gives life to us all.”

“Not the wicked Shade.”  
Bitterness laced Weiss’ voice.  
“Its tendrils forbade  
The light from mine eyes.”

“You still see in darkness  
Though your eyes fill with light;  
I pray you will listen  
To your soul, not your plight.”

With that, Weiss fell silent.  
Eyes closed, and she breathed.  
Her love was apparent  
In the way that she leaned.

Ruby felt her weight,  
Knew she supported  
But held not upright.

She knew Weiss could stand alone;  
That in aloneness she may dwell.

“I love you, Weiss.  
Let us be silent and still.”

“I love you, Ruby.  
I won’t dwell in past hells.”

“Let us live in the now,  
Be supported and free.”

“I am a harp in your arms.  
Make sweet music with me.”


	12. First Loves

“Ruby, am I your first love?”  
“You are not,” said she.  
“Oh. I see,” was Weiss’ response.  
“Does this news bother you?”  
“No, it does not.”

Then, “Will you speak to me,  
Please, of your first love?  
For you are my first,  
And I wish not to misstep.”

The Red laughed and she held  
Weiss’ looking-glass to her breast.  
“Very well. It was a very different  
Kind of love. It went unrequited.

“Perhaps that is the wrong word,  
For he courted me in seasons.  
But upon love’s threshing floor,  
When threshed naked, he retreated.

“For we were as ears of corn  
Being shucked and prepared  
For a feast of the soul.

“Alas, it was not to be.  
After so long beside him,  
When I had wished for his all  
I was left with his nothing.”

Weiss was in tears  
By the end of her tale.  
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.  
“I didn’t know.”

“But now you do,”  
Ruby smiled, bemused.  
“And you have watched as I burn.  
You have mourned by the Pyre.”

“How could I not?”  
Weiss couldn’t imagine  
A day of such loss  
Without grieving in pain.

“ _He_ did not. He panicked,  
And fled straight away.”

“How heartless!” Weiss cried.

“But his heart broke, too.  
Tell me, if you were not  
In the mirror, would you have  
Waited through?”

“Of course I would have!  
You are all that I’ve wanted.  
Freedom besides, it’s my dreams  
That you’ve granted.”

“I freed you from the wicked Shade,  
And in doing so you were imprisoned.  
But Weiss, when you are freer still,  
You’ll see your new freedom  
Only as the fetters of a yet  
Greater freedom.

“I speak the words of the Prophet,  
Whose teachings endure.”

“Tell me, Ruby, is our love sure?  
I say that I love you, but  
Are you wanting for more?”

Ruby smiled into Weiss’ eyes.  
“You are my best partner.  
My soul is in flight.”

Contented with such,  
Weiss hummed to herself;  
Ruby, enraptured, sung gaily as well.


	13. The Eternal Prison

After spending several weeks  
In euphoric light,  
In love with dear Ruby,  
Without a care in her sight,

Weiss suddenly remembered  
That she was trapped in the glass  
Of the mirror which bound her,  
Which held her so fast.

She had forgotten, somehow,  
With Ruby's visits in sleep,  
That she had not a body.  
What a miserable keep.

Her mood became sullen,  
And so fast it was clear—  
When Ruby next saw her,  
She could not help feel the leer.

“Weiss? Are you well?  
What sort of trouble  
Has spelled  
The furrow  
Of your brow?

“Do nightmares  
Again cow?”

Weiss was frustrated.  
She meant not to  
Lash out in pain, but—

“I cannot be content  
With this lie!  
I want my freedom  
Outside!

“Have you forgotten  
The promise you’d made?”

Ruby’s smile faded fast,  
Neither in faulting  
The past, nor the present;  
No, she understood.

“Weiss, I am sorry  
For letting this slip.  
I was caught in the bliss.  
Surely you too felt this?

“I am afraid  
I have news  
You won’t like.”

Brows furrowed deeper.  
“Out with it, then.  
The blow need not  
Be softened  
By sympathies  
Or words soothing.”

“Then I shall speak plainly.  
The glass can’t be broken  
By one such as I.”

The color drained from Weiss’ face.  
She was a ghost in a cage,  
A shadow, though  
She cast light on the stage.

“What do you mean?”  
Her breath was now hoarse,  
Chest tightened, throat parched.  
Her lungs were now starved,  
Her eyes deadened stars;

There was light within,  
But they erupted  
In rage,  
Like a lover deceived.  
That’s what she was,  
Anyways.

Ruby was calm in her words,  
But her face was discouraged.  
She must speak carefully  
Lest she break the girl’s spirit.

“When I had built the looking-glass,  
I had intended it to last  
Through eons;  
I wanted to  
Live forever,

“To not feel the pain  
Of dying again  
And again  
And again.

“I had built, then, this glass  
To hold me so fast  
That not even time  
Could erode the workings,  
The trappings,  
The unnatural fastenings;

“I had built a lock  
Without a key  
From the outside

“But you can be free!  
This I promise,  
Though it won’t  
Come from me.”

In her daze,  
Weiss was floating  
In a sea of self-loathing.

Of course she’d be trapped  
Once again. There was no  
Escaping the past.  
Of course it would be  
From one prison to the next.

At least now,  
She had a  
Visitor,  
In her  
Twilight  
Hours.

But oh, now the hours!  
Suddenly remembered,  
They dragged out in pain.

What was it she said?  
When Ruby met her again?  
Seek her not with hours to kill,  
But time to live?

“Ruby… did you lie to me?  
When you’d said I’d be free?

“Did you know from the start  
That your magics were far,  
Far away from your deeds?”

Ruby breathed to center herself,  
Suggested Weiss do the same,  
Then: “May I hold you?”  
She held her arms out, so tame.

With a head now that swirled,  
Weiss embraced the girl  
Who had freed her,  
Then trapped her,  
Then freed her again.

How was it, she thought,  
That was was trapped again?

“May I hold you ‘til you’ve calmed?  
I think I’ve known all along  
How to escape,  
Though I’d never tried.

“Hush now. I’m here.  
I’ll always be near.  
Release now the fear

“That I’d ever betray;  
You saved me, that day  
When we traded places.  
It’s our love now that traces

“The lines that take shape  
In my heart as memories  
And thoughts. It is you  
I love more and the most.”

Weiss sobbed in her shoulder.  
She heaved breaths she’d been holding.

Her lips felt dry  
Even as her cheeks,  
Lit with fire,  
Betrayed the longing  
She felt.

There was no loneliness where she dwelled.

For trapped though she was,  
She had Ruby, her love.  
And Ruby promised  
To always be near.

“I am sorry, Ruby,  
For being so dour.  
It was much longer  
You’d been  
Imprisoned in  
The Tower.”

“But you freed me, Weiss,  
As you shall eventually  
Free yourself.”

Weiss blinked through her tears.  
“But how? How could I ever?”

“There is a certain magic of sorts,  
The kind nature employs,  
That has not a cost,  
But an acceptance of loss.

“The price is never paid wrong,  
Because there is no such thing  
When one accepts the world  
As It Truly Is.”

Comprehension askew,  
Weiss looked upon her anew.  
“I don’t understand.”

“To an extent, me too.  
“But if you will let me  
Continue this life  
That we’ve carved  
Together,

Perhaps someday we might.”

“Then will we not  
Seek greater magics  
To undo  
What’s been done?”

“We will do no such thing.  
I can’t guarantee the safety  
Of you, or myself, or of those   
Who practice the spells.

“Magic is dangerous.  
Magic is hell.

“If you would be willing to,  
Weiss, perhaps we could  
Both, as we walk in  
This world, travel  
The path of the Flame.

“If we become one with the now,  
There will be no more pain.”

“Are you asking me to  
Become a fire spirit?”

Ruby laughed,  
Kissed her lover  
O’er the temple.

“I mean, if you’d accept me,  
You could follow our principles.  
For there is no greater freedom  
Than freedom in flames.

“I will die many times,  
But I will always  
Find you again.”

“I don’t suppose  
I can accept  
An eternal prison  
Just like that,

“But if you say it is so,  
I will follow where you go.

“It is your love that I treasure;  
I’ve never known freedom,  
But pleasures I have learned,  
And that love need not be earned.”


	14. Fetters

“Ruby?” Weiss shuddered  
Into their embrace.  
“Yes, Love?”  
Ruby nuzzled,  
Affection clear on her face.

“What if I am trapped here  
Forever? What if  
This prison is all  
I will ever…?”

“Fear not, Dear Weiss.  
‘Tis but a fetter of thought.  
Had I not been gripped  
With guilt,  
My own freedom, no doubt,  
Would have been as quick  
As my sentence.

“Be kind to yourself.  
You need not again mention—“

“If thought is a bird of space,  
And in speaking, it is half-murdered,  
Could I not dispel my thoughts  
By speaking ever further?”

“You speak words of the Prophet?  
Weiss, my dear, all life is sacred.  
Even the shadows which linger,  
Given form, deserve the  
Light of their reckoning,  
The breath of the soul,  
Before judgment be cast.

“And were you to judge your  
Innermost fears, see first whether  
They look upon you with  
The sameness of tears.

“Though thought be a bird of space,  
The hand of the Prophet  
Leads never to murder.  
And if you must needs slay  
A bird for its feathers,  
Know that you, too, are slain,  
Cast deeper in fetters  
Than the looking-glass prison  
That is your reprieve

“From silence,  
From hatred,  
And Man’s  
Grievous misdeeds.”


	15. Acceptance

“Weiss… I think it’s time.”  
“Time? For what?”  
“Now is my time  
To return to the Pyre.”

Weiss sat in silence at dawn,  
Drank in the radiant light  
That reflected off dewdrops,  
Hid the stars of the night.

“I am scared,” Ruby said.  
I have always feared  
My death, and I’ve hid.  
Perhaps, now you’re with me,  
I can go out with mind clear.

“You have my support.  
This is a part of your life.  
How long has it been?  
How long since the flight?”

“It has been ten years and five.”  
“Has it truly been fast?  
It seems that just yesterday  
I’d met you alone in the glass.”

“It seems a lifetime ago  
That we formed our pact.  
Our bond of love  
Has filled this life

“With more satisfaction  
Than any I’ve died.”

“I will be patient  
While you burn,

“Or so I will try.”

“And I will go willingly,  
Knowing not of good-bye.”


	16. Gambol's Shroud

The pair traveled distant  
With Gambol, their steed  
Into a shroud most uncertain,  
Yet always knowing their need.

The horse fought through  
Floodwaters,  
A terrible storm,  
But none could have raged

Like Ruby Rose the unborn.

“My mind is a maelstrom.”  
Ruby roiled and churned.

Weiss, in her keeping,  
Sat till, watched her turn.  
  
“Let the storm rage.  
I will be with you  
Until the last  
Drops of  
Rain  
Fall.”

Eventually, they did.

Gambol’s Shroud had  
Crossed oceans;  
It brought the two  
Where it led;

To the Isle of Patch,  
Where next Ruby  
Be bled.


	17. Twenty-Four

With the moon and the stars so bright overhead,  
In the twili’ of morn Weiss had found, once again,  
That sleeplessness was not so bad  
When she had Ruby to share her bed.

And Ruby, in her midnight hour,  
Though dreaming away in her lover’s arms,  
Felt safe and secure, that she would come to no harm.

And in the warmth of their embrace,  
They each thought to themselves,  
“There is no greater bliss.”

As Weiss pondered the life  
Of a spirit of flame,  
Ruby Rose nuzzled closer  
As though she were tame.

But Weiss knew that she was utterly free.  
‘She spent her twenty-third lifetime just loving me.’  
And now, twenty-four, Weiss wondered no more  
When she would be free of her looking-glass prison;

Though it pained her to watch Ruby die,  
It delighted her so to see her return  
After a decade of love, of love that still burned.


	18. Fearmongers

Somewhere along the way,  
As Ruby wandered  
And Weiss followed,  
Captive as she was,

They came upon  
Men dressed in scarlet.

It was clear  
Their intent,  
That they would  
Not relent.

Ruby brought her  
Hands to her breast,  
Shed tears  
As she said:

“May we be kind  
To ourselves  
In this moment  
Of suffering.”

The slavers brandished  
Their arms;  
Ruby opened  
Her palms.

“Come and take me.  
You’ll not lay a hand  
On what is sacred.”

Weiss watched,  
Deadly silent,  
Like a portrait

As violence  
Prepared its own  
Garish display.

The men chuckled hard.  
She’d surrendered!  
Har! Har!  
Her beauty  
Made her catch of the day.

But as they approached,  
Ruby whirled as she stoked  
The Flames of the Red  
Of her name.

“I ask you:  
Take pity.  
Be kind and  
Not petty.

“Your lives are more precious  
Than what you stand to gain.”

“What’s that, you wench?  
Are ye lookin’ to fight?  
I’ll tear your damned clothes  
From your hip to your thigh!”

“It is not a fight that I want,  
But a funeral to avoid.  
All life is sacred.  
Don’t make me return you to void.”

The first slaver swung,  
Despite fear of the flame.  
His arm burnt to cinders.  
He cried out in pain.

And Ruby cried as well:

Not even two dozen lifetimes  
Could hold back the spell.  
“I ask you now, please,  
Be done with this folly.”

The second man threw a knife.  
The Red answered in volley.

Fire melted the knife in the air;  
It caught the man’s clothing.  
It caught the man’s hair.

His screams were  
Damned wretched.

They tore at the air  
As the man aflame  
Charged into wide  
Open arms;

Ruby embraced him fully  
Until he was gone

Save for the char  
O’er the path  
Where slavers  
Once barred the way.

Ruby knelt,  
Tears and prayer.  
Weiss did the same.

* * *

At length, Ruby shuddered.  
Remorse flooded her being.  
“Weiss, I have erred.  
Destruction wasn’t  
My meaning.

“I met force with force  
I fought them in kind.  
I have scorched Mother Earth.  
I have ended two lives.”

“And you saved two lives,”  
Weiss offered, but it was clear:  
Ruby needed a way  
To forgive her fear.

“When I thought of the life  
You had once lived,  
How you ran from  
Everything and everyone…  
My flames fanned.”

“Then let us gather their ashes.  
Let us gather the seeds  
From the fruits of our breakfast;  
From their remains, life shall be.”

Ruby wept openly  
Like the child she was,  
Eternally youthful,  
Yet unbearably old.

The Red yet smiled  
Through the pain  
Of her grief,

For her love had offered  
A gesture genuine, sweet,  
To respect the life  
She had stoppered.  


“In the morning, then,  
We’ll return them to dust.  
I pray their souls will forgive us;  
I pray they’ll give us their trust.”


	19. Love's Desire

‘Love seeks naught but its own fulfillment.’  
So spake the Prophet  
Whose teachings endure.

Then why in this day  
Is there so much annulment?

If love is but love,  
Then why do lovers bind  
Their souls together,  
Then later disentwine?

Ruby Rose pondered  
Such mysteries  
As she floated about;

She and Weiss  
Drifted buoyant  
Along a river’s snout.

“Weiss?” she questioned.  
“How many lives have I lived?”

“We stopped counting long ago  
When you said, ‘Let’s just live.’”

They both smiled in remembrance  
Of when Ruby let go of her age.

Then, “Should we get married?”  
“Have we not always been?”

Ruby smiled again.  
She held her love close.  
If love has no desire  
But to fulfill itself,

Then it was Weiss  
She desired  
To fulfill the most.


	20. The Heart of the Phoenix

Ruby Rose of the Mirror,  
The Fire and Flames,  
Had lived twenty-two lifetimes  
Before learning your name.

Forever a child,  
Mind empty and wild,

She’d never loved  
As she loves you today.  
Now with every rebirth  
As she follows the Way,

She will love you for always,  
Beyond the end of your days.


	21. The Fruit of Forgiveness

On a spring day, warm and bright,  
Ruby and Weiss had returned  
To honor men wrongfully deprived  
Of lives that were sacred.

No matter how cruelly they’d lied  
Or how empty they’d lived,  
Their ashes bore fruit;  
Their souls did forgive.

“May I?” Ruby breathed,  
Enchanted by the life transformed.  
Humbled by the lives she’d reaved,  
She stood at their roots.

Weiss lay in the looking-glass;  
She swayed at love’s hip.  
“May we honor mistakes of the past  
With life’s gentle kiss.”

Ruby plucked a fruit  
From the tree; then took a bite.  
The flavor was sweet. Perhaps  
They forgave her for her fright.  
At last, she forgave herself  
For that ruinous night.


	22. The End and the Beginning

_I have called this looking-glass_  
_My home for as long as_  
_I have called Ruby my home._

_Centuries have passed;_  
_Long ago I thought I’d go mad._  
_But every day, I have felt_  
_Ruby’s love, have learned_  
_The joy and the patience_  
_Of watching life turn._

_I have waited in willows,_  
_With birds and with ease_  
_As Ruby returns to her homeland,_  
_Sheds a lifetime’s dis-ease._

_I love Ruby forever,_  
_But now I love too_  
_Myself and the river._  
_I love the sun and the moon._  
_Life ebbs and it flows._  
_I have observed it is so._  
_But also I’ve seen_  
_The hidden spaces between._

_Ruby now lives a life beyond measure._  
_We stopped counting the years._  
_It’s our love which we treasure._

_And in the breaths between breathing,_  
_The weather between seasons,_  
_The life between living,_

_I have learned_  
_Not of knives,_  
_Nor of swords._

_Nay, no blade can harm me._  
_I have found the Way._

_And though I am human,_  
_I walk the Path of the Flame._

_On the day of this writing,_  
_I have abandoned my all,_  
_Surrendered to eternity,_  
_Gained the freedom to fall._

_The looking-glass lays in pieces;_  
_I am truly human again._  
_I can love my dear Ruby_  
_Until the end of my days._

_Ruby fears not the end,_  
_When I return to dust._  
_Though delayed, I too face my life_  
_With a fullness of spirit_  
_And the promise of spice._

_My freedom today_  
_Is but a yoke and a chain_  
_To the idea of a freedom_  
_I needed never obtain._

_Fain would I pass on to you,_  
_Dear Reader, that which I know to be true._  
_But Ruby has taught me_  
_That though knowledge be learned,_  
_It is in observing the life_  
_That wisdom is earned._

_And Ruby has promised,_  
_As is my desire,_  
_That when my time finally comes,_  
_I become one with the Pyre._

_—Weiss_


	23. The First Again

‘You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.  
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.  
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.  
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,  
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.’

So spake The Prophet  
Whose teachings endure.

On their first pilgrimage  
Together to the Pyre,  
With Weiss on her feet  
And in simpler attire,

When Ruby no longer  
Lavished her with luxuries,  
But affection, camaraderie,

Weiss held her beloved’s hand  
Every time she could seek it,  
Despite knowing, as always,  
She’d return to meet it.

On the eve of their arrival,  
Welcoming the dawn of revival,  
Weiss kissed her partner  
So much they lost sleep.

Near their moment of parting,  
She was no longer meek.  
“I will wait for you here.”  
Ruby became one with the flame.

Weiss sat still as a stone  
Until the hunger came.  
She asked for some soup;  
Some soup they did bring.

Weiss sat still as a stone  
Until it did rain.  
She slid several feet,  
As a pebble in a stream.

Weiss sat still as a stone  
Until the winds blew.  
Sands whipped in her face,  
Yet she refused to move.

Weiss sat still as a stone  
Until the sun came to shine.  
Then she stretched, and she stood.  
“Welcome back, love of mine.”

Ruby emerged from the Pyre;  
The first thing that she saw  
Was a silver-haired beauty.  
She wept herself raw.

She knew Weiss in an instant,  
While the rest was all new.

_“One more life_  
_May I spend_  
_Together with you.”_


	24. Finale - Dust

When the day finally came,  
As Ruby knew would,  
She traveled ‘gain to Patch,  
Layed Weiss where she stood.

A funeral in the Pyre, for Weiss understood.

* * *

_A woman stood before Weiss,_  
_Black light in an ink of consigmment,_  
_Her tresses, her garb,_  
_All described her alignment._

_“I am Belladonna, the Black._  
_I am Night after Day._  
_You have come to me sated._  
_You've not wasted away.”_

_“Who are you?” Weiss asked,_  
_For Black’s name was a title;_  
_Weiss wished to know_  
_Why she held Gambol’s bridle._

_The Black smiled, eyes gleaming_  
_In the murk. “Was it not clear_  
_From the moment we met?_  
_I am the Mother of Death._

_“I have put an end to your flesh.”_

_“That horse… That is Gambol, correct?_  
_Have you been the one_  
_Leading Ruby_  
_To death?”_

_“The Way has many paths,_  
_None of which are to be followed._  
_I guide where I may_  
_When one’s time is but hollowed.”_

_“May I see where we are?”_

_“You need only but look._  
_'Tis an in-between place,_  
_Though there are quite a few books.”_

_The light of no light_  
_Swirled llike night during day._

_‘Twas a library;_  
_They stood_  
_Between_  
_Row after row_  
_Of shelves all filled_  
_With books of the soul._

_Weiss scanned the titles_  
_Of the spines;_  
_‘Many Things in Little Time’,_  
_‘The Girl Born of Fire’,_  
_‘The Looking-Glass’,_  
_And ‘What Has Yet To Transpire’._

_“May I read these if there is time?”_  
_“Read as much as you like;_  
_This place is timeless._

_“Or… I could offer_  
_One better:_

_“Become one with the Pyre._

_“Be at one with the Flame_  
_That is your other half’s_  
_Birthright. Be alive_  
_Once again.”_

_Weiss blinked and considered._

_“Do you mean I_  
_Return to Ruby?_  
_We feared not_  
_The parting.”_

_“I mean be one_  
_With her soul._  
_Make sweet music,_  
_My starling.”_

_“Have I not always been?_  
_Have I not always done?_  
_‘Twas with Ruby I learned_  
_The light of the sun.”_

_The Black laughed,_  
_And her laughter_  
_Echoed again._

_“So you have,” said Belladonna._  
_“But now ever fuller_  
_Will you embrace_  
_The heart of the_  
_Looking-Glass_

_“Which bound you_  
_Forever_  
_To stardust.”_

* * *

Ruby knelt by the Pyre,  
Flames licking her face,  
Caressing her departed  
With love and with grace.

“You may join her  
If you wish.”  
Taiyang hath spoken.

“No, not like this.

“She is forever  
My wife.

“We will reunite  
In good time,  
But first  
I’ll live mine.

“I need some time to myself  
Before our ashes entwine.”

“Very well.”  
A chorus of voices.  
The whole Isle of Patch  
Wept with tears and rejoices.

For Ruby, once fearing death,  
Had learned to love life,

And for Weiss, the first human  
Who would give up her flesh  
And join her immortal soul  
To immortal life after death.

Ruby did not know  
When she would  
Cease to be,

When the fire  
Would die;

It didn’t matter.  
She was free.

“I love you, dear Weiss.  
Thank you  
For being with me.”


	25. Epilogue: Your Ashes Come Home to Me

Ruby Rose of the Mirror,  
Though your prowess was known,  
You lived a life that was loveless;  
You were forever forlorn.

One dozen lifetimes you’d spent  
Trapped alone in the glass,  
Until the heiress, Weiss Schnee,  
Somehow undid the clasps.

Now it was Weiss who was stuck—  
Your freedom, at last!  
Yet your sense of honor  
Still chained you steadfast.

Was it loneliness you saw  
Reflected in her eyes?  
But lovelorn she was,  
Just as you were disguised.

Instead of casting the mirror  
In the eyes of the Pyre,  
You stared into blue orbs  
Lit full with desire.

Though Coward and Liar  
You claimed were you names,  
Ruby Rose of the Mirror  
Falls short of such shames.

And as Weiss grew accustomed  
To her small-windowed view,  
She could not stop herself  
From loving you.

The flames of Xiao-Long  
May have turned kingdoms to ash,  
But that's not your fault,  
No matter your past.

A flame sprite must live  
Life burning and true,  
And then, once extinguished,  
Begin bright anew.

Weiss has witnessed your  
Lifetimes through and a-through;  
And not for a day has she stopped  
Loving you.

* * *

_Ruby woke with the dusk,_  
_For it was at dusk when_  
_The world was most new._

_She heard a crackling,_  
_Felt a warmth from_  
_The hearth. And there—_

_She saw Weiss draped in blue._

_“Good evening, Love.”_  
_Weiss welcomed her in._  
_“Please, sit with me here._  
_Wrap your cloak ‘round us both._

_“Let it wrap us in sin.”_

_“Weiss?” Ruby muddled._  
_“How long has it been?”_

_“Only since the dawn,_  
_When you let the light in._  
_Now darkness persists;_  
_Let the night be a friend._

_“And you, my wife?”_

_Ruby’s eyes teared._  
_That she had spent_  
_A life without..._

_But Weiss patted the space_  
_At her by the hearth._  
_Ruby took it at once,_  
_Spent not a moment in doubt._

_“You are not often in blue.”_  
_“You are not oft needing healing,_  
_Today both things are true.”_

_Ruby blinked. “Am I?”_  
_“In need? Always, my Love._  
_Did you know?_  
_I still have nightmares._  
_Sometimes I wake in a shout.”_

_The softness of her demeanor,_  
_The way the light seemed to show_  
_Not red from the fire,_  
_But blue from Weiss’ glow…_

_It reminded Ruby of something_  
_She couldn’t possibly know._

_“May I kiss you?” Ruby breathed._  
_Weiss’ tears were immediate._

_“Please, tenderly.”_

_Thus, not with passion,_  
_But a smoldering burn_  
_Did the Rose kiss her beloved_  
_With no urgency or turn._

_They spent the night in this way,_  
_Gentle touches and tears._  
_They’d forgotten to speak;_  
_They’d forgotten their fears._

_They’d forgotten the hours;_  
_They’d forgotten the years._

_At last, “Please remember._  
_Do not forget:_  
_We will meet again_  
_When next the sun sets.”_

_“Must we part ways?”_  
_Ruby wondered aloud._

_“Never. The blue light_  
_Surrounds you._  
_You are never without.”_

_Ruby breathed in the dawn,_  
_Soaked in the light of Weiss’ eyes._  
_They were blue and prophetic._

_The foretold her demise._

_A kiss to each eyelid_  
_Did each one caress_  
_Before sleeping together_  
_In one final rest._

* * *

Ruby emerged from the Pyre.

The Isle blinded her eyes.

She wept in the sunlight.  
She wept for dear Weiss.

“One more lifetime before  
‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye.’”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote The Looking-Glass Poems in August of 2018 during a psychiatric hospitalization. The whole process was an incredible personal journey. Originally published on FFnet and later taken down for foolish reasons, I have decided to upload the second drafts to Ao3. I am currently in the process of making very minor edits while I agonize over how to thoroughly revise the story and turn it into something amazing. The story told here through narrative verse is the most personally meaningful work I have written in my 30 years of living. With much of the first draft's awkwardness out of the way, I hope you will enjoy the journey.  
> Cheers loves.  
> ~ Adeline


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